From: Don Mikulec
Subject: COMP: Allied General
for those of you who weren't in a software store last week, Allied General is out.
I bought Allied General. I am still up in the air about it. The interface is better
but there are a few things that I didn't like.
Good Points:
1) 39 scenarios
2) Strategic map is a window that can be left up during gameplay. Click on a spot
on the strat. map and the tactical map repositions itself.
3) Scenario deployment of units is also done through a window.
4) Has an uninstall utility to get the program out of Windows.
5) You can play the Russians, Americans, or British.
6) New Units; Finnish ski troops and Soviet Conscripts.
7) Hypothetical scenarios (ie. a 1944 invasion of Norway).
8) More prestige points to start scenarios (and you will need them.)
9) Better email utility; still no modem play.
Bad Points:
1) The CD is the copy protection.
2) The units don't glide across the map; they move hex to hex.
3) The game is designed for Windows 3.1; with all of Win3.1's quirks and bugs.
4) Execution of movement and combat seems slower (see #3).
5) Main window has problems repainting when alot is happenning (see #3).
6) The scenario start up map on PG has better looking animated.
7) Game automatically centers on where a unit just moved. I am trying to find
out how to disable this.
8) To get the estimate of casualties before an attack, you have to "jiggle"
the mouse within the target hex. (see #3)
9) No unit value tables in the manual.
10) Either hard or easy opponent, no medium setting.
The game has three camaigns.
The Russian Campaign - You start in December of 1939 attacking Finland. This is
not as easy as it sounds. The Finns are very well entrenched and your units are
of a very poor quality. The ST Conscript units are cheap, but they are something
you through in the way of advaning armor. After you lose this you go on to lose
a battle during Barbarossa and then defend Moscow. I havent gone any further.
The American Campaign - You start with core units containing air, armor, infantry,
and Free French mountain troops during the Torch invasion. You fight Vichy, German
armor and German paratroops. After this is Kasserine; I barely pulled a minor Allied
on the first try of this one. The next is the final battle to push the Germans out
of Tunisia.
The British Campaign - You can start in 1940 or 1943 North Africa. There is a
point where the Brit and US campaigns converge. Here the campaign you are playing
becomes your core units and the one you aren't becomes your aux. units.
I have also played the Overlord scenario. They changed the map orientation so
the beachhead is at the bottom of the map and and your objectives are at the top.
The way PG shows the map is what I always have seen in history books and TV. The
AG map is a little disorienting at first.
From: Don Mikulec
Subject: Re: COMP: Allied General
One other thing about Allied General, you need a 256 color driver running under Windows.
Anything less than 256 and the game won't run.